Going caveman (Paleolithic diet)

[Rookie]

Hey guys I'm doing a 3 week trial on the caveman diet (paleolithic) just to lean out and just to see how my body will respond to such a regime. Might even do it for longer depending on results. I will be eating following:

Meat, non processed

Fish

Nuts

Eggs

Veges

Minimal fruit

If anyone has any advice or experience with such a regime, I would appreciate some words. Training will be down from 6days to 4.

Cheers, Rookie

[Maximus]

This is a classic Crossfit diet and seems to yield decent recents when combined with a good fitness program.

I know of many people that have tried this type of diet and have loved the results that they have got, they have leaned out and with a good fitness program got faster and stronger.

Good Luck.

[Rookie]

Cheers for the words of encouragement man, basically just doing a 4day bbing split.

Pretty intense training, main goal is to both maintain/ hopefully build muscle on this diet.

A friend of mine (a pt) convinced me that for building muscle bulking/or large consumption of carbs is only suitable for the lean, this article talks about it: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Articles ... spx?ID=329

Rookie

[Maximus]

I would stick with the diet for more than a few weeks. If not already start a journal on the forum for 12 weeks (with the diet) and see how you go.

[Elite121]

Good luck to you man, you may find the below websites of some help to you:

http://robbwolf.com/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

http://www.paleonu.com/

This article posts some very interesting points:

http://www.evo-performance.com/articles/paleo.htm

[Rookie]

Cheers bro some useful resources ay.

Some interesting reads for sure

[Milkey]

Hey Rookie,

I did a Paleo diet for a couple of months and got some great results. But because I didn't plan enough with regards to meals was easy to revert back to a "western" diet.

Read the book "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain. It all makes sense and hits home just how many crappy foods there are on the supermarket shelves.

I try to do all my shopping in the outside of the supermarket. Fruit,veges,meat,seafood etc. But you have to keep it interesting and tasty. So possibly not a 100% paleo diet but enough to keep it effective.

Good luck and plan your food well ahead of time

[Rookie]

Thanks for that, on to my fourth week now. Results so far are pretty good and yup I freeze all my meat when I buy it and defrost the night before, cook everything in the morning. Definitely the meal rotation was hard and yeah I stick to the outside too, I'm not even consuming any fruit atm just veggies and nuts. Mentally challenging but also relieving to know we once were cavemen :pfft: How did you adjust back into the western diet? Carbs after training or mixed meals? Processed foods? Check my rookie's road to becoming lean, its my training and diet log.

Rookie

[Jigga]

Is it possible to bulk on the paleolithic diet? Also, with the whole taking dexterose post-workout helping produce more growth hormones (insulin blah blah) thing - you can't take any processed foods on the caveman diet. Do you sacrifice strength and size gains on this diet or is it possible to have the best of both worlds? I have read a few articles but they really just cover the benefits of the paleolithic diet whereas I would like to know if it is applicable to bodybuilders who want to get big rather than just cut down on fat?

Hope that question makes sense.

[Rookie]

Hey man, yeah of course its possible to bulk on the paleo just like any diet. But with saying that you'll bump up cals like any other diet and mostly from good fats and protein. Well with the growth hormone thing, if you train appropriately using something like Charles Poliquin's German Body Comp training or a density training programme then you'll be producing enough GH.

I would say its possible to get the best of both worlds because a) you're not producing sufficient amounts of insulin for storage- dependent on calorie and nutrient timing and b) you can train just as hard on a paleo, but be warned forget about the pump.. you still feel thrashed but no pump compared to training with carbs.

One thing you could consider is your bodyfat levels. If your insulin sensitivity (carb tolerance) is good then no need to do a paleo. My plan is to achieve 10% bf before I add any carbs back in. This may or may not apply to you but worth considering- the whole bodyfat thing. Poliquin says that you should only consume carbs if you're lean and states that 10% or below is acceptable.

Hope it helps

Rookie

[Jigga]

cheers mate liked

[frogie2001]

sounds like a fun diet. but pretty clean eating is standard. probably work best if you train like a cave man too

[Rookie]

Do you mean no/low carb is common? No grains, no dairy, basically nothing unless it flys, swims or runs in a field and is green. Well training is basically fully geared towards fat loss so that helps with the leaning out process. Its fun and a good challenge too. I actually surpassed the three week goal I initially established :pfft: I would def recommend it to everyone, except maybe the ectomorphic teen who has trouble gaining muscle.

[Elite121]

Hey man, yeah of course its possible to bulk on the paleo just like any diet. But with saying that you'll bump up cals like any other diet and mostly from good fats and protein. Well with the growth hormone thing, if you train appropriately using something like Charles Poliquin's German Body Comp training or a density training programme then you'll be producing enough GH.

I would say its possible to get the best of both worlds because a) you're not producing sufficient amounts of insulin for storage- dependent on calorie and nutrient timing and b) you can train just as hard on a paleo, but be warned forget about the pump.. you still feel thrashed but no pump compared to training with carbs.

One thing you could consider is your bodyfat levels. If your insulin sensitivity (carb tolerance) is good then no need to do a paleo. My plan is to achieve 10% bf before I add any carbs back in. This may or may not apply to you but worth considering- the whole bodyfat thing. Poliquin says that you should only consume carbs if you're lean and states that 10% or below is acceptable.

Hope it helps

Rookie

Solid explanation Rookie.Regarding poliquin he is a goldmine of information but also talks a lot of smack though, some of the stuff he says is just plain ludicrous. Anyway keep us updated with progress.

[Pseudonym]

Is there much difference between the Paleo and Anabolic diets? Cheese plays quite a big part in the AD (at least, it does for me) but is that a no-no for Paleo's?

[Rookie]

I think there is but havent looked into the AD. Yup no dairy in the paleo which kinda sucks coz I love cottage cheese and cream cheese :x

Whats the AD like? Good results?

Rookie

[Milkey]

Paleo consists of foods that occur naturally and we were designed to eat. Meat,wild if possible as this is leaner than domesticated animals.

Veges and fruit-Some exceptions like potatoes as they contain a toxin when raw.

Nuts- Almonds,brazil,walnuts. Raw not roasted. No peanuts or cashews as these are legumes and contain a toxin when raw.

Oils- Choosing an oil with a high omega 3 to 6 ratio. Too many foods nowadays are high in omega 6 and throws the ratio out.

Dairy-No dairy.

Tinned foods - The high canning temps destroy beneficial parts of the food.

They all have reasons why you can and can't have them. It's been a while since I read the book so will have to do some revision. But it all makes sense. Little things like "How will my bones be if I dont have dairy?" It explains that in a paleo state your body is alkaline not acid and doesnt leach calcium from ones. So all the extra is not needed. Another person to google is Weston A Price. Interesting stuff.

I write all this whilst drinking a protein shake :pfft: So take it as you will. I think its more of healthy eating way than an out and out bodybuilding thing. But does have some very good points and ideas.

[Pseudonym]

Cheers Milkey. I'll have to investigate it further. Looks like quite a restrictive diet, though.

That's the nice thing about the Anabolic Diet. It's easy to stick to. Actually, I find it easier than a "regular" diet since I don't have to worry about cooking carb servings. I do miss pasta though.

Does it work? I think so. I dropped a couple of body fat percentage points, although it wasn't drastic. I seem to have plataued at about 11%. But that's with zero cardio. I suspect these diets really need cardio to be super-effective. Bugger.

[startinfromscratch]

im currently on ckd, and agree with pseu - in alot of ways, the diet is easier to stick to than traditional diet..